Philippians 4:11 I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
Matthew 6:31-34 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
1 Timothy 6:6-9 But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
Hebrews 13:5-6 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Would you say that you are reasonably happy? If so, then obviously you are not aware of some very alarming statistics. For example, have you ever eaten a pickle before? Then consider this: 99.9 percent of cancer victims have eaten a pickle sometime in their life. Not only that, 98.3 percent of people involved in car and air fatalities have also eaten a pickle. Most alarming of all: 100 percent of the people born in 1839 who ate a pickle are now dead.
The fact is, if you tie your happiness to circumstances, you are always going to find something to be unhappy about. People who tie their joy to circumstances will always find something to rob of them of their joy in life. That something may be a dysfunctional relationship. It may be pressure at your work. It may be a problem in your finances. It might be a concern about your health or the health of a loved one.
Warren Wiersbe wrote that when it comes to joy, there are thermometers and thermostats. Do you know what the difference is? A thermometer is controlled by the environment which it is in. The mercury rises or falls depending upon its environment. There are a lot of people today who are thermometers–they are up, they are down, depending on what happened at work that day, what happened in their family, or the balance in their checkbook. But there is another group of people who have learned how to live above their circumstances. They are like a thermostat, which regulates its surroundings. It has an internal mechanism that determines whether everything else is hot or cold. People like that do not allow their environment to regulate their sense of well-being; instead, they have this internal relationship with God that allows them to experience joy no matter what is happening around them. (Jeffress)
